Digital infrastructure construction and urban inflow of high-skilled talents: evidence from China

High-skilled talent plays a crucial role in urban innovation and high-quality development. Attracting high-skilled workers has therefore become an important strategy for cities seeking to enhance their long-term competitiveness. We use the number of 4 G base stations in cities as a proxy for digital infrastructure and construct a dataset on the inflow of high-skilled talent into cities. The study finds that digital infrastructure has a significant positive effect on attracting high-skilled talent into cities, and this conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests. The underlying mechanism is that digital infrastructure attracts high-skilled talent through income-driven effect, innovation-driven effect, and improved livability. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the marginal impact of digital infrastructure on attracting high-skilled talent is greater in cities with a more open business environment, higher levels of technological innovation, higher population density, and lower administrative status. Further analysis reveals that digital infrastructure facilitates both the inflow and outflow of high-skilled talent in developed cities, with a net effect of enhancing urban human capital accumulation. However, these effects have not yet manifested in less developed cities. This study provides important insights into how digital infrastructure can be leveraged to attract high-skilled talent and enhance talent competitiveness in the context of a declining demographic dividend.